Matthew 7:21-23 "Get the REAL ticket to heaven"

A sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of
Manhattan, KS, 20 November 2011

Translation

7:21 Not everyone who is saying to me,
“Lord, Lord,” will enter into the kingdom of heaven,

but rather the one who is doing the
will of my Father in the heavens.

7:22 Many will say to me in that
day, “Lord, Lord, Didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your
name, and do many miracles in your name?”

7:23
And then I will confess to them, “Never did I know you; depart from me, workers
of lawlessness!”

INTRO: Vernell
Ledbetter and the bus station

The late southern comedian Jerry Clower
used to tell stories about his friends in rural Mississippi. Marcell Ledbetter was Jerry’s best friend, and he had a
whole slew of brothers – there was Marcell, then Vernell, then Ezell, Odell, and Clovis. In one episode, he
tells the story of Vernell Ledbetter at the bus
station. I can’t remember all the details exactly, but the story goes something
like this: Vernelle was a big country bumpkin, and he
ain’t never been to the big city before, but his
cousin Eudelle Ledbetter, who had sung so purdy at his mamma’s funeral, was getting’ hitched in Tupelo,
Miss-ippi, and Vernell,
he’d saved up enough money to buy himself a nice suit and a bus ticket to
Tupelo for the wedding, and he was going to go in style. Well, Marcell Ledbetter, he took his brother Vernell
over to the Greyhound bus station and showed him the counter where he could buy
himself a bus ticket to Tupelo, Miss-ippi. And the
man at the counter told Vernelle that the bus would
be leaving in one hour. So Vernell sat down on the
bench to wait. Pretty soon he noticed some lights blinking on a fancy machine
over in the corner of the bus station. So he sauntered over to the corner to
figure out what this fancy machine was. Well, over top of that machine, there
was a sign that said, “STEP ON THE SCALES, AND I WILL PREDICT YOUR HEIGHT,
WEIGHT, NAME, AND YOUR DESTINATION!” “Well, I’ll be,” said Vernell,
“the weight, I can figure, but how could a little old machine know what my name
is and where I’m going? This has got to be a gyp. I’m going to put a nickel in
there and just prove that it don’t know.” So Vernell
chinks in a nickel and stands on the scale, and zip, out come this piece of
paper that reads, “Your name is Vernell Ledbetter,
you are 6 foot 4, weigh 213 pounds, and you are going to Tupelo, MS.” Vernell’s jaw dropped; how could that machine know all
that? It must be some kind of fluke! “I’m going to put in another nickel and
see if it says the same thing.” Sure enough, the machine eases out another
piece of paper, and on that paper it says, “Your name is Vernell
Ledbetter, you are 6’4” 213#, and you are headed for Tupelo.” Wow! Now Vernell had to figure out how come that machine knew all
that about him. Was it being operated by somebody at the counter? He just had
to figure this thing out, so he looked all around that fancy machine to see if
it had any wires attached to it, but he couldn’t see none. So he steps up to
the machine a third time and dropped one more nickel in. Out slides the paper
again, and this is what he read, “Your name is still Vernell
Ledbetter, You are still 6’4” 213#, and you done missed your bus to Tupelo!”

In this next passage, Jesus describes what it takes to
miss the bus, as it were. He describes two things that many false teachers and
those who follow them try to do in order to get to heaven. But these two things
are like buying the wrong ticket to the wrong destination; they will never get
anybody to heaven:

Wrong Ticket #1: The Fire-Insurance Prayer (Lip Service)

7:21 Not everyone who is saying to me, “Lord, Lord,” will
enter into the kingdom of heaven, but rather the one who is doing the will of
my Father in the heavens.

A)The
destination here is the Kingdom of Heaven; That’s where everybody wants to go.

1)I
believe this is speaking of heaven: Jesus is speaking of a future event
which He calls “that day,” in which He will act as a judge to decide who gets
in to heaven.

2)All
the verbs are future: “Not everyone will enter… they will say… I will
[say]… depart.

3)The
phrase in v.22 “In that day” comes out of the blue and never occurs
again in Matthew, but if we look back at the previous uses of the phrase “in that
day,” we see that it occurs in the writings of the prophet Zechariah, who used
that phrase more often than any other Bible author, and most of the time, he
was speaking of the end times: (The following
passages from Zachariah are from the Septuagint O.T., paraphrased from Brenton’s English translation.)

a.Zechariah 2:11 And many nations shall flee for refuge to the Lord in
that day, and they shall be for a people to Him...

b.Zech.
9:16 And the Lord their God shall save them in that day, even His people
as a flock…

c.Zechariah 12:9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will
seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

d.Zech.
13:2 “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord of hosts,
“that I will utterly destroy the names of the idols from off the land, and
there shall be no longer any remem­brance of them: and I will cut off the false
prophets and the evil spirit from the land…”

e.Zech. 14:4 And His feet shall stand in that day on the mount of
Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall
split in two...

f.Zech. 14:8-9 And in that day living water shall come forth out of
Jerusalem... And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there
shall be one Lord, and His name one.

2)There
are also passages in the N.T. that use the phrase “that day” to speak of end
times:

a.Luke 17:24-31 “For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one
part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be
in His day… And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in
the days of the Son of Man… the day that Noah entered the ark, the flood came
and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot…
on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from
heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that
the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on the
housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out;
and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. (NASB)

b.2
Timothy 4:8 in the future there is laid up for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on
that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (NASB)

4)The
setting of these future events referenced in Matthew 7:21ff here refers to
Jesus’ 2nd coming when He judges mankind and saves those whom He
loves and who love Him.

Jesus says
that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” then will enter into heaven.

B)What
does it mean to say “Lord, lord?”

1)In
the Septuagint Greek O.T., King David taught the people to address God as
“Lord, Lord:” – “And now, Lord… let Your name be established and magnified for
ever, men saying, ‘Lord, Lord, Almighty God of Israel.’” (1 Chronicles 17:23-24
- Brenton)

2)This
was a way in the O.T. of translating the divine name YHWH/Jehovah
into Greek.

a.Baruch,
the scribe who wrote the book of Jeremiah, used this name to authoritatively
confirm Jeremiah’s prophecy as coming from the one true God (Jer. 51:62).

b.Jesus said, “You call me “Master” and “Lord,” and
you say well, for so I am.” (John 13:13)

c.So
in one sense, it is an acknowledgement that Jesus is God; it is an honorable
title, recog­nizing His divine power as God to judge and to save.

3)However,
here in this judgment day scenario, it seems to be an emergency request, like
when the 5 bridesmaids got shut out of the wedding party due to their
negligence and were banging on the door, saying, “Lord, lord, let us in!”
(Matt. 25:11)

4)Throughout
the Greek O.T. there were several people who addressed God with the double “Kurie” with emergency requests for the salvation of
the Jewish people:

a.Moses
prayed that God would not destroy Israel in the desert (Deut 9:26), and God
relented.

b.The
prophet Amos used it while interceding for the Jews – that God would not
utterly wipe them out with locusts and fire (Amos 7:2-5), and God softened His
punishment.

c.According
to the apocryphal section of the book of Esther in the Septuagint, Mordecai
prayed thus for deliverance from Haman’s plan to kill the Jews (Esther 4:17),
and God delivered the Jews.

d.Likewise,
in the apocryphal book of 3 Maccabes (2:2), the high
priest Simon prayed for deliverance of the Jews in Jerusalem from the pagan
King of Egypt, Ptolemy Philopater and God miraculously
intervened.

5)However,
as Jesus said, not everyone who prayed, “Lord, Lord,” got their request.
There is a notable exception, and that was Moses in Deuteronomy 3:24-27 “‘Lord,
Lord,’ he prayed, ‘You have begun to show Your strength and power to your
servant… for what God is there in heaven or on the earth, who will act like You
with such might? I will therefore go over and see this good land that is
beyond Jordan...’ Yet the Lord… did not regard me, and would not listen to me;
and the Lord said to me, ‘Hold your peace; don’t speak of this matter to me
anymore. Go up to the top of the rock, and look… westward, and northward, and
southward, and eastward, and behold it with your eyes, nevertheless you will
not go over this Jordan.’”

a.Moses
prayed, “Lord, Lord, let me enter your promised land,” and God said, NO. Why?
Because Moses had disobeyed God in the matter of striking the rock instead of
speaking to it to provide water for the children of Israel, as he had been
instructed.

b.I’m
not saying that Moses didn’t go to heaven; I’m just saying that we have a story
in the Old Testament of someone who prayed, “Lord, lord…” and yet was not
allowed to enter the promised land, and this provides a warning for us, that in
a similar way, there will be some people who call Jesus “Lord” who will not be
admitted into heaven.

c.Believing that Jesus is Lord is not enough: James 2:19-20 “You believe in the one, true God?
That’s well [and good]; the demons also believe and tremble [at His authority,]
but [that’s not good enough.] Are you willing to recognize, you fool, that
faith without works is useless?”

C)Doing
the will of God is contrasted with calling “Lord, Lord.”

1)In
Greek there’s a weak word for “but” (de) and a strong word for “but” (alla), and this is the strong word: 7:21b “…but
rather the one who is doing the will of my Father in the heavens.”

2) “…can
we imagine that [saying Lord, Lord] is enough to bring us to heaven, that such
a piece of formality as this should be so recompensed, or that He who knows and
requires the heart should be so put off with shows for substance? Compliments
among men are pieces of civility that are returned with compliments, but they
are never paid as real services; and can they then be of an account with
Christ? …if inward impressions be not answerable to outward expres­sions, we
are but ‘as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal’… ‘[holding] a form of
godliness, but [denying] its power’… as those who did put on [Christ] a
gorgeous robe and said, ‘Hail, King of the Jews’” [while crowning Him with
thorns and beating Him]. ~Matthew Henry

3)Does
this mean that it is not important to confess that Jesus is your Lord? Not
at all:

a.Matthew
10:32 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him
before My Father who is in heaven.” (NASB)

b.Romans
10:9 if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (NASB)

c.Believing and proclaiming that Jesus is Lord is a necessary part of
Christianity.

4)When
Jesus said, “Not all who say Lord, Lord…,” He implied that some who call
Jesus Lord WILL enter heaven, just not ALL of them, because a verbal confession
of faith alone is not what gets you into heaven – it’s not a valid ticket by
itself. It must be combined with active obedience – doing the will of Father
God.

a.Ps. 40:8 I desired to do Your will, O my
God, and Your law in the midst of my heart. (Brenton)

b.Psalm 143:9-11 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord;
for I have fled to You for refuge. Teach me to do Your will; for You are
my God; Your good Spirit will guide me in the straight way. You will bring me
to life, O Lord, for Your name's sake; in Your righteousness…. (Brenton)

c.On the other hand, the ones who had no good works
to present, in Jesus’ scenario of the sheep and the goats, are the ones who
will be cursed: “Depart (πορεύεσθε)
from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the
devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to
eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger,
and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in
prison, and you did not visit Me…” (Matthew 25:41-46, NASB)

So the
first ticket of saying a confession of faith is not enough, and the
second ticket of doing good deeds is introduced.

Wrong Ticket #2: Good works

7:22 Many will say to me in that day, “Lord, Lord, Didn’t we
prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many miracles
in your name?”

A)Again,
the occasion appears to be judgment day, when Jesus returns and places some
people – who thought they were all right – with the goats under His judgment.
They are protesting His judgment, saying, “Wait a minute. We prophesied in your
name! We did miracles in your name! Surely you made a mistake! Lord, lord, this
is an emergency, we need to be saved here!” And Jesus will say, “You are
showing me the wrong ticket. Simply doing good works is not what gets you into
heaven. Simply performing miracles in Jesus’ name does not prove that
you are a Christian.”

B)This
means that there are people who have prophesied, cast out demons, and even
performed miracles, who are nevertheless destined for hell!

1)The
grammar (ou + indicative) indicates that the answer
to their question is indeed, “Yes.” They did indeed prophecy and exorcise and
perform miracles in Jesus’ name.

2)Although
dunameis (translated wonderfulKJV/mighty
worksESV/wondersNKJ/miraclesNAS,NIV)
basically means a demonstration of the strength that a certain person can
muster, when it is speaking of God, we’re talking about genuine miracles.
Matthew used this same word dunameis regularly
to refer to the miracles Jesus did (11:20-23, 13:54,58; 14:2).

3)We see from Biblical history that pagans were
able to prophecy, cast out demons, and do miracles:

a.Moses
warned the Israelites of this in Deuteronomy 13:1-3 “If a prophet or a
dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the
sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying,
'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,'
you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams...” (NASB)

b.The
Midianite prophet Baalam
(Num. 23:8ff) and the Jewish high priest Caiphas
(John 18:14) delivered true prophecies, but remained in rebellion against God.

c.The
Sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13-14) cast out a demon
“in the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches,” but they didn’t personally know
Jesus, so the demons played havoc with them.

d.Judas
was one of the disciples, and he presumably healed people and preached the
gospel, but he was the “Son of Perdition” who “perished” (John 17:12).

e.Simon
the magician performed great wonders in Samaria in the days of the apostles,
(miracles perhaps like Pharaoh’s magicians did in Moses’ time– Ex. 7:11ff), but
he was in the “bonds of iniquity” (Acts 8:9-23).

C)The
problem, as Jesus’ words in v.23 tell us, is that they are also stillἐργαζόμενοιτὴνἀνομίαν
= you who work iniquityKJV/workersESV/practitioners
of lawlessnessNAS,NKJ/ evildoersNIV

1)The
last Greek word in the sentence is a-nomia –
law-lessness, rebellion against law;

2)Law
is equivalent to the will of God in v.21, and related to Lordship – the
authority to make laws to govern us.

3)The
participle “you who work/practice” is present tense, indicating that these are
not people who happened to do some wrong in the past, they are still living out
a life of rebellion to God’s authority up to the minute that Jesus returns.
They call Jesus Lord, but they are not obeying Him as Lord.

4)A
growing personal relationship with God results in knowing the will of God and
responding with obedience to His law-will rather than rebellion against it in
lawlessness.

D)This
calls for caution:

1)First
of all, we should exercise caution in who we follow:

a.Jesus
already warned us about false prophets a few verses earlier.

b.There
are men and women who pass ordination exams, preach wonderful sermons, and even
been successful at evangelism, who will not themselves be in heaven, because we
are not saved merely by what we say or merely by what we have done. (M. Henry)

c.Furthermore,
in the last days, the antichrist will do amazing wonders and deceive many into
following him. Rev. 13:11-14 …He performs great signs, so that he even
makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth... And he deceives those who
dwell on the earth because of the signs… (NASB)
but he is eventually thrown into the lake of fire – Rev. 19:20.

d.Don’t
allow yourself to be impressed by people who can do amazing things – even
spiritual things. Keep comparing their teachings with the standard of the
Bible. Only if they match up to God’s word should we pay attention to them.

2)We
should also exercise caution in how we assure ourselves of heaven. We
cannot use good works as the basis of our assurance:

a.There
are some Christians who believe that speaking in tongues is the ultimate proof
that one is a Christian and that one has the Holy Spirit. But speaking in
tongues is a phen­om­enon practiced by Hindus and Muslims too – not just
Christians. I believe it can be a legitimate and Biblically-practiced spiritual
gift, but I’m afraid there are going to be people who thought they were
Christians because they had spoken in tongues, who find out on judgment day to
their bitter disappointment that speaking in tongues didn’t prove anything. We
are not saved merely by what we say or merely by what we do.

b.“They
think that they shall go to heaven because they have [a good reputation among
people who profess faith], have kept fasts, and given alms, and have been
preferred in the church; as if this would atone for their reigning pride,
worldliness, and sensuality, and want of love to God and man.” (M. Henry)

E)Please
note: This does not mean, however, that doing good works is bad:

1)Jesus
did NOT say, “Everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy
[etc.] …” Jesus said “Many” not “All.” This implies that there are some
who performed these good deeds and were not condemned in the judgment.
They are the same as the “few” who found the nar­row way that leads to life, as
opposed to the “many” on the broad way that leads to destruction.

2)It
is, in fact, a requirement of all Christians that we act out our
faith by telling other people and using the power of God to help people:

·This Greek word apo-chorew
(depart/AwayNIV/Literally “go
away from the country”) occurs 3 other times in the Bible:

1.Jeremiah
46:5, where Pharaoh Necho’s army would be forced to retreat
back from Meso­potamia to Egypt,

2.Luke
9:39, when a demon would not leave the boy it was terrorizing, and

3.Acts 13:13, when John Mark left Paul &
Barnabas in Turkey and went home to Jerusalem.

§In all three occurrences, it is about turning away from occupying a
certain space. In the case of Matt. 7, ἀποχωρεῖτεis talking about being turned away by Jesus from occupying the
kingdom of heaven.

§The picture of Moses being turned away from occupying the Promised Land
even though he prayed, “Lord, lord…” becomes all the more pointed.

·The parallel passage in Luke’s
Gospel gives the same reason for this rejection in different words:Luke 13:26-28 Then you will start
to say, “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our
streets;” and He will say, “I’m telling you, I do not know where you are from;
Stand apart (ἀπόστητε) from me, all you workers of unrighteousness (οἱ ἐργάταιτῆςἀδικίας).” In that place there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth…” (NASB)

·How does your heart respond to that kind of warning? If it says
with Peter, “Never would I forsake you!” (Matt. 26:35) Then that indicates you
are a saved sinner like Peter who will fail from time to time – as Peter did,
but who desires a growing relationship with God and will be given entrance into
heaven.

·What is the ticket? Being known by God! Walking in a relationship
where there is interpersonal knowledge and mutual self-revelation.

·It begins with God’s knowledge of us:

oRomans 8:29-30 For those whom He
foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His
Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He
predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and
these whom He justified, He also glorified. (NASB)

oPsalm 139:1-16 …O Lord, You
have tried me and known me. You know my down-sitting and my up-rising: You
understand my thoughts long before. You have traced my path and my bed, and
have foreseen all my ways… behold, O Lord, You have known all things, the last and
the first: You have fashioned me, and laid your hand upon me. This knowledge is
too wonderful for me… You have helped me from my mother's womb… Your eyes
saw my unwrought substance, and all shall be written in Your book... (based on Brenton)

oAmos 3:1-2 Hear this word, O
house of Israel… You especially have I known out of all the families of
the earth... Brenton (Greek:ἔγνων/Heb:ידעתי/modern English
versions use the word “chosen”)

oIn this sense, Jesus says, “I never knew
you. You were never one of those I chose to save. I never desired an eternal
love relationship with you.”

·However, that relational disconnect was mutual, for these people who
will not enter the king­dom of heaven also have not truly loved and reverenced
and grown in the knowledge of God. “It’s not that their acquaintance was
broken off – there never was any.” (Wm. Hendricksen)

·On the other hand, those who are
known by God respond by growing in their knowledge of Him:

oNahum 1:7 The Lord is good to them
that wait on him in the day of affliction; and he knows them that reverence
him. (Brenton)

o1 Cor. 8:3 if someone loves
God, He is known by him. (NAW)

oGalatians 4:9 But now that you have
come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that
you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which
you desire to be enslaved all over again? (NASB)

o2 Timothy 2:19 The Lord knows
those who are His, and, Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain
from wickedness. (NASB)

·God’s knowledge of us is perfect from the start, but our knowledge of
Him grows, therefore it must be cultivated. It is cultivated
through:

1. self-revelation
in prayer, and

2.time
spent taking in God’s revelation of Himself to through scripture.

oIt results in reverencing
Jesus as Lord and in turning away from things that offend God and doing
what He says is good.

Applications

1.Prepare
in faith to stand before the Judgment seat of Christ:

·2 Corinthians 5:9-10 Therefore we also have as our ambition… to be pleasing
to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so
that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what
he has done, whether good or bad. (NASB)

·The only way to be pleasing to God is to throw ourselves now upon the
mercy of Jesus, the only one whom God has said He was “well-pleased” with. We
must ask Jesus to save us and bring us to heaven – and trust that He
will.

·Thank God that He will save sinners who repent and do not continue in
active rebellion to Him, but who rather love Him with all their heart, mind,
soul, and strength!

2.Imitate
Jesus. Say with Him, “Depart from me if you are going to keep practicing sin. I
am not going to allow rebellion against God under my sphere of authority.” That’s
what king David did too: (the following passages from
the Psalms are from the NASB)

·Psalm 6:8 Depart from me, all you who do iniquity…

·Psalm 119:115 Depart from me, evildoers, That I may observe the
commandments of my God.

·Psalm 139:19b …Depart from me, therefore, men
of bloodshed.

·This extends to more than outside influences on you; it
extends to turning away from everything in your own heart which
displeases God. We must repent of our sin and stop being “workers of
lawlessness.”

·Psalm 101:4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil.

3.Grow
in your knowledge of God’s will by studying the Bible and obeying it:

God told
the church in Sardis, Turkey that if they would do this, he would confess their
names and keep them in the book of life and accept them into heaven, and He
will do the same for us: “To the angel of the church in Sardis write… ‘I know
your deeds... Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about
to die; for I have not found your deedscompleted in the sight of
My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep
it, and repent… But you have a few people in Sardis who have notsoiled
their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He
who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not
erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before
My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit says to the churches.’” (Rev.
3:1-6, NASB)